Episode 15

Moving On

continued….

"Hey, Wash?" Bridget said gingerly as she peeked into the cockpit a few hours later. The pilot had been reclining in his chair at the controls.

"Yes?" he asked, turning in his chair.

"Dinner's done," she replied. "I dunno where the rest of everyone is, and I don't feel much like snoopin' about for 'em on my first day, so…"

"Worry not, little miss, I've got it all under control," he said. He flicked a switch and took down a hand held p.a. "All members of Serenity's crew, please drop what you're doing and get your asses up to the kitchen for dinner." He flicked the switch off and hung the p.a. in its rightful place. He got up from his seat and gave her a little grin.

"Thanks," she said. Bridget lead the pilot into the kitchen where the table was set and the food was ready to eat. There was the turkey, carved and ready to dig into, mashed potatoes, gravy and steamed vegetables.

"Wo de ma, I've died and gone to heaven," said Wash as he almost visibly salivated over the spread. The other crew-members filtered in and were equally amazed. Without a minute's hesitation, the ten of them sat down and dug in.

"Can we keep her, Mal?" joked Wash through a full mouth.

"Yeah, can we?" asked Kaylee.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," said Mal. "No offence meant."

"No offence taken," said Bridget.

"Not to say we don't really, really need a cook," Zoë interjected.

"Which we've done just fine without this whole time," Mal reminded them.

"If you call Simon's crotch soup 'fine'," Jayne muttered. Simon glared at him.

"Can't blame me for trying," he said.

"And failin'," Jayne shot back.

"I have to say this is extraordinary," said the Shepherd ignoring the bickering. "I haven't had a meal like this since my mother did the cooking."

"I'll have to second that," Jayne said through some turkey and mashed potatoes.

"See, dear, aren't you glad I bought that bird?" asked Wash, seeking compliments from his wife.

"We'da been out a perfectly good turkey if Bridget hadn't come along," Zoë said. "But you done good." Bridget's cheeks had gone very pink from all the praise she'd received over dinner. "So, where're you from?" Zoë asked.

"Originally, from the poorer district of Persephone," Bridget answered. "But I've been travellin' around the 'verse, working as I go. The city's a little too stuffy for me."

"How long have you been traveling?" asked Inara.

"'Bout the last three years," Bridget answered. "It ain't so bad when you get used to it."

"And you left just 'cause you don't like the city?" asked Mal.

"Not entirely. My folks died a while back and I've been trying to find a place what can feel like home again," she explained. "So far, no luck."

"Let us hope that your journey ends soon," Book said with a small smile. Everyone seemed satisfied with Bridget's answers to their questions. She was a mite relieved when the conversation shifted to humorous stories and the like. Bridget offered a few smiles and chuckles, but for the most part, she felt more lonesome than when she had no one to talk to. All these folks knew each other, it was like a family. One big family Bridget weren't a part of.

After everyone got there fill and felt the post-big-meal sleepies comin' on, they got up and trickled out, one or two at a time.

"Need help with the dishes?" asked Kaylee.

"Nah, I got it," Bridget said with a smile.

"Alright then. I'm right down this hall if ya got any questions or needs," she said, heading for her hammock in the engine room. Bridget sighed, satisfied with the meal everyone consumed and enjoyed. She picked up all the dishes from the table and set them near the sink and started to scrub.

In a half an hour's time, she was nearly done. She hadn't seen hide nor hair of anyone since dinner and the silence was starting to get to her.

"'Ey," grunted a male voice from the door. She looked up and saw the large burly frame of Jayne, the man who'd saved her from the thugs at the bar.

"Hi," she answered.

"It was a real nice dinner," he mumbled, not making eye contact with her.

"Thanks," Bridget replied, going back to scrubbing off the pan she'd cooked the turkey in. There was an uneasy silence for a moment.

"I jus' wanted to say that I'm…well, a little ashamed'a what happened last night in the pub. Fights like that seem to follow us around…come to think, I'm usually the one who starts 'em…," he said awkwardly. Bridget could tell he wasn't the type to do much apologizing and that this was hard for him to come out and say. "And usually I ain't ashamed of knockin' bad folk around, but there was some shootin' this time, and I guess I'm just glad you ain't hurt."

"Don't be sorry, was you that saved me from only god-knows-what," Bridget said.

"I punched him good for ya, though," said Jayne with a smirk. "That wang ba dan should never'a touched you like that."

"No, he shouldn't've," Bridget agreed. "Thanks for nearly knockin' his head clean off," she said with a little chuckle and a hint of sarcasm.

"Hey, I look for excuses, most times," he said with a grin. "Jus' can't help myself." Bridget chuckled a bit. "Well, I…I guess I'll leave you to them dishes…jus' wanted t'…ta apologize…I guess…"

"Apology excepted an' appreciated," Bridget said.

"Yeah…well, I'ma…I'ma go shine my guns…or somethin'," he said, his voice trailing off. Without so much as a 'goodbye,' Jayne left the kitchen doorway. Not the brightest star in the 'verse, Bridget thought to herself. Prolly got muscles for brains.

Just outside in the hall, Mal eavesdropped on the tail end of their awkward little conversation. "Why, Jayne, didn't know you had it in you t' be a halfway decent individual," said Mal sarcastically as Jayne exited the kitchen. Jayne jumped at the captain's sudden presence.

"Gorramit, Cap, why you gotta sneak up on me like that?" growled Jayne angrily.

"Why you bein' so nice to this girl, huh? The Jayne I know only has a mind to be sexed up and leaves all courtesy behind him," said Mal in a lowered voice. "In fact, if memory serves me, you were thinkin' of that very thing when you first saw her. Ain't that right?"

"Well…it…it was, Cap'n, but…I dunno, just watchin' her get takin' advantage of really got me ragin'. Couldn't tell ya what for," Jayne stammered sheepishly. "I ain't never got this stupid 'bout no girl. Not never."

"Well, good luck getting' her to reciprocate those feelings of yours," said Mal.

"'Sat s'posed to mean?" asked Jayne, genuinely confused.

"Lets just say you're better at womanizin' than you are at actually startin' up a healthy relationship," said Mal.

"I never once womanized," Jayne said defensively. The Captain gave him a very skeptical look. "I haven't! Any girl that's ever sexed me up started it her own damn self. I just played along, and that ain't womanizin'."

"Hate to say it, but she ain't stayin' for too much longer anyway, so you better get any thoughts you have gone before she ain't here anymore," said Mal.

"You really gonna kick her off?" asked Jayne.

"I never aimed to keep her here," said Mal with a shrug.

"You never aimed t' keep Simon and his crazy sister here neither, but they're part of the ruttin' crew now!" Jayne pointed out.

"Simon has valuable attributes we can't do without," said Mal.

"Whaddya call that dinner tonight?" Jayne said indignantly.

"Damn good food. But we've been livin' just fine off what we been havin'. We're not gonna die if Bridget ain't here. If Simon weren't here, almost half my crew'd be dead 'n' buried," Mal said. "I don't want you trying to tell me what's best for us on this boat. We've talked about this a few times, I don't want to talk about it again." Jayne muttered something that sounded sorta like 'Yessir.' "Good. I gotta go figure some stuff out about this next job. Behave yerself, dong ma? Don't do nothin' you'll regret." Jayne gave a little nod and decided to spend the rest of the night in his bunk with Vera and his polishing rag.

Down in the passenger bunks, Bridget went through her bag so that she could put her things away around the room. Inside was only three more changes of clothes, a water bottle, tooth brush and toothpaste, a hair brush, her two platinum bills lying crumpled at the bottom, and a picture of her family. Bridget sighed.

"The 'verse ain't the same place without you," she said sadly to the photo. She propped it up on the bedside table against the lamp. She refolded what little clothes she had and put them away in the little dresser on the other side of the room. She was done in less than five minutes and decided that this was as good a time as any to get to sleep. Bridget crawled into the bed that the Shepherd had made for her and shut off the light, glad that at least she was amongst friendly people and that she had a warm place to sleep that night.

In the morning, the crew awoke slowly not to alarm clocks or of their own accord, but because of the faint, but distinctive, smells of breakfast.

"I'll be damned, she's done it again," Wash said as he and Zoë entered the kitchen where Bridget had just slid the last two pieces of French toast onto a plate with the rest. Aside from the entrée, there were scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon enough for ten.

"Well, ain't this a pleasant surprise to wake up to," said Mal as he pulled up a chair at the table.

"Better eat it before it gets cold," Bridget told them with a cheerful smile as she sat down herself. The rest of the crew trickled in, last of all was Jayne, who was a notoriously deep sleeper. He plopped down heavily into one of the wooden chairs and gave a little grunt for a hello.

"Nice of you to take it upon yourself," Mal said with gratitude that didn't seem entirely genuine. "When'd you wake up?"

"Five," Bridget said.

"Couldn't drag me outta bed at five 'less someone needed t' get a bullet in their ass," Jayne muttered as he loaded his plate.

"Well, it's quite a bit of food," Bridget pointed out. "Had to start early."

"Not to put a damper on this pleasant little surprise, but when you ain't on solid ground and don't know when you're gonna be stoppin' next, there's this thing I like to call 'rationing'…," Mal said to her.

"Oh…wo de ma, I'm sorry I didn't even stop to think…," Bridget said, mortified.

"I know you didn't, that's why I'm tellin' you," said Mal. "Makes sense that you wouldn't think about it, though, being grounded as often as you are. If you run out of food, you just get up and buy some more. But we ain't got fuel enough to be stopping at every ruttin' planet we see to stock up, nor do we have the money for somethin' like that." Mal saw that he'd been a little too blunt with her, even though he had to say it. She picked at her breakfast as if she weren't gonna eat it. "I ain't mad this time, I appreciate your willingness to pull your weight around here. I know we got a lot of people on this boat and you don't want no one to go hungry, but I'm sure half of this would feed us just fine."

"Yessir," she muttered. "Won't happen again."

"I ain't mad, remember? Eat what you've got, it ain't doin' any good just layin' on your plate," he encouraged her.

"We ain't gonna run outta food, are we?" she asked gingerly.

"Don't reckon so," said the Captain. "Just remember you gotta ration."

And she did. During the next few days, Bridget controlled the portions that she doled out at Serenity's sit-down meals. Like the Captain said, no one starved and everyone was just as happy not eating protein substitute. After a while, the compliments fizzled away into near to nothing. Bridget figured that it was only because they'd come to expect good food morning and night. The Captain didn't say another word about rationing their precious food stores. In fact, more than anything, he seemed to be warming up to her presence, which made Bridget feel far more comfortable chatting and laughing with everyone else. She even found a few comical stories to share.

"Let's do work stories again," Kaylee said as they sat around the dinner table, full and content. "They gotta be funny ones. You start, Bridget, since you haven't told us much."

"Oh," said Bridget, feeling a little put on the spot. "Okay…let me think of one…," she thought hard about all the jobs she'd ever had and finally found a story worthy of talking about. "Alright, so I just got this in between job as a nanny for seven little kids on Osirus. Seven of 'em. And I'm not too good with kids, but 'cause there were so many, the pay was good, so I took it. And the first night, their mom was tellin' me all I needed to know to look after 'em, and I was tryin' my best to remember it all, and I was tired and hungry, so I weren't really in a rememberin' sort of mood, see.

"So finally the parents left and I'm alone with all these kids, losin' track of their names and such, and the one that weren't no more than a year old finally woke up from a nap. First thing he sees is my big dumb face starin' down at him, and he starts to cryin' somethin' fierce 'cause I ain't his momma. So I pick him up and try to get him to stop his carryin' on, and I felt awful, 'cause what if I woke up with some gorram stranger lookin' down at me? Poor thing must'a been so confused and scared. Anyway, after I started to think about it and what with this kid cryin' his damn face off and me being so damn tired, I started cryin' too," Bridget said with a sheepish grin. The table broke into amused chuckles. "And them six other kids was starin' at me like I was kuang zhe de. Then the gorram parents call, and I'm still blubberin', trying so hard to keep it together so I don't look such a fool in front of the kids. Needless to say, that was the last time I ever babysat."

"That was a good one," Kaylee said with a smile. "I bet you got lots of stories, what with how many jobs you've had."

"Yeah, I got a million of 'em, some not so funny," Bridget replied. "Okay, who's next? I ain't gonna be the only one who has to tell a humiliating story tonight."

Mal was starting to worry. He'd been calling around, seeing if there was a job for his crew, but none of the usuals had anything for him. It had been a whole week now, floating in the black without a goal. He knew that it could be like this, but it didn't mean that he was gonna sit there and like it.

Besides the issue of no work, he had something else burnin' on his mind: Bridget. Despite his best efforts, Mal couldn't resist the urge to keep her aboard on account of he didn't want to go back to the niu fen he was used to eating. It was his original intention to hire a cook when he first bought Serenity, but for some reason, he just never got around to it. On top of that, he felt so gorram sorry for her. The kid was dirt poor and spent most days working her ass off just so she could eat. Out of the eight days she'd been there, he saw her wear the same six articles of clothing over and over in different combinations. She didn't even have a place to call home.

Mal knew just as well as most people that it didn't take much for him to go soft, despite his tough façade. This was without a doubt one of those times. Besides, he trusted her well enough. She caused him no trouble, as promised, and she was a kind enough soul. Mal just hoped that this wouldn't get his mercenary's hopes up. Jayne hadn't gotten over his sudden, unexplainable feelings for the waitress turned cook, not by a long shot. Mal still caught him staring, even though Bridget didn't seem to notice.

"She wouldn't, anyway," Mal thought to himself. "Not Jayne." For lack of anything better to do, he decided that this was as good a time as any to let Bridget in on the news that he'd let her stay, should she want to.

"Bridget, could you come on up to the bridge, please? I got a matter that needs to be dealt with," he said into the p.a. Moments later, a curious looking Bridget Li poked her head into the cockpit.

"Sir?" she asked.

"Come'ere," he said. Bridget did as she was told. "Have a seat." She sat down in the co-pilot's chair, which felt like it was rarely used. "How're you likin' it on this boat?"

"Er…fine, Captain, just fine. Fact, I haven't felt this rested or this well liked since I can't remember when," Bridget said.

"Yeah. I've taken on a lot of passengers over the course of my time out here and not a one of 'em has been this popular with the whole crew," said Mal.

"Oh, well, I dunno about that…," she stammered, cheeks going rosy.

"It's true. And I'll tell you what else, I really appreciate how cooperative and helpful you've been around here," he said. "You've got one hell of a work ethic."

"It's nothing, really," she said. "Things just gotta get done, you know?" Mal gave her a smile.

"Guess what I'm sayin' here is that you can stay until it suits you to leave," he said. "I know it's your nature to travel around, but if ever you wanna make this boat your home, I got nothin' against it."

"Well…thank you, I s'pose," she said, not knowing what else to say. "I sure like it here, make no mistake. I guess it just depends on where we stop and what the pay's like."

"I promise to pay you if we ever get another job," he assured her.

"Another smuggling job?" asked Bridget gingerly, finally finding the guts to confront him about what exactly went on in Serenity's cargo bay.

"Yeah. Another smuggling job," he said. "That bother you?"

"Not really, I was just curious and wasn't sure how to ask," she said.

"Well, that's what we do," he said. "I won't ask you to help 'less you wanna."

"I'll let you know," she said with a little smile.

"Now that that's all taken care of," said Mal, straightening up in Wash's chair, "there's a few things that I need to talk to you about as an honorary member of this crew."

"Alright," she said slowly.

"First order of business: please, for god's sake, call me Mal on occasion," he said. Bridget arched an eyebrow. "I'm serious."

"I think I can manage that," she said with a little smile.

"Secondly, next planet we stop at, I'm having Inara take you clothes shopping. It ain't right for a girl to have so little," he said.

"Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that…," she protested.

"Did I hear you ask?" he said. "You're to go shopping, that's an order. That leads me to my next point. Even though I'm giving you permission to drop most of the formalities, I'm still the captain, which means what I say goes. If I tell you somethin' ain't right, I expect you to cease and desist immediately. You're to do what you're told, understood?"

"Yessir," she said.

"I think that's all I got for now," he said. "Consider yourself hired." Bridget smiled broadly.

"Thanks, Mal," she said. "Much appreciated."

"Alright, before this gets too sentimental, how 'bout you get back to whatever it was you were doing?" he said with a little smile.

"Sure, Captian," she replied, beaming. She turned and exited the cockpit, happier than she'd been in a good long time.

"I got good news for ya, Mal. Seems a fella I know on Athens has a transport job he can't get no one to do. Told him I'd give you a call."

"Can't say I ain't surprised to hear from you, Patience, I didn't think we were on the best of terms," said Mal to the vid screen with a little smirk.

"We ain't, but the two of us aren't doin' any business, are we?" said the grouchy old woman.

"What's the cargo?" Mal asked.

"Grass," Patience answered simply.

"Wha…grass, did you say?" Mal stammered.

"That's right. My friend down there says he struck up a deal with some settlers on NewHall. Promised 'em almost three acres of sod, but he can't get no one who'd take a job like that," Patience said. "I told him if anyone was desperate enough to pile a bunch of dirt 'n' grass inta their cargo bay, it'd be you."

"What's he payin'?" asked the Captain.

"300 platinum," Patience said. Mal's innards churned.

"300 platinum?" he asked, boggled by the number.

"You heard right. Man's been waitin' almost half a year tryin' to find someone who's willing to take it. It's a messy job, Mal, but knowin' how crappy that ship of yours is, I'd take it if I were you," she said with a scoff. "You could use the money on some maintenance." The thought of 300 platinum caused Mal to hardly notice that she'd insulted Serenity.

"Where's this guy live?" asked Mal.

"Anavisos. Name's Nelson. Trace Nelson. Owns a big ranch there, you can't miss it," said Patience.

"Wash, how long'll it take us to get to Athens?" asked Mal.

"I'd say we're about five days out," Wash estimated.

"Alright, Patience, tell this Trace Nelson guy of yours we'll be there around five days or so," Mal said.

"He'll be happy to hear it," she said before disconnecting.

"Attention, people, we got ourselves a job!" Mal crowed into the p.a. Wash set a course for the boarder planet of Athens with a grin on his face.

"Isn't the first time that woman's dug us out of a scrape," he said.

"I was just thinkin' that myself," said Mal with a satisfied smile. "Must be my pretty face." He clapped Wash on the shoulder before leaving him to the flying.

Fin

Author's note: So, what say you? If you'd like to see my versions of the episodes leading up to the movie, let me know and I'll start a-writin'! I plan to eventually go over why Book and Inara both left Serenity before the movie and whatnot. Tell me what you think!